Lord,
Pardon them
By Seshadri
Chari
http://www.outlookindia.com/20001030/affairs1b.htm
It is extremely
necessary today to put an immediate end to the affairs of the
foreign-controlled, foreign-financed and foreign-influenced churches and
endowments in India, and to entrust them all to India's own indigenous
Church". Was it the sarsanghchalak of the
RSS saying so? No. These
brave words belong to His Eminence Mar Athanasius Joel S. Williams, archbishop,
Indian National Church (287, Bellasis Road, Bombay [now Mumbai] 400008).
The archbishop
pleaded for the establishment of 'India's own indigenous church' to ensure that
the spiritual guidance of the citizens of India is not corrupted by foreign
financial control. His apprehensions about the foreign church and their dubious
agenda was not unfounded. The impression one gets of the foreign churches is
that they are interested less in pursuits spiritual and are more into dabbling
in local and national politics, with ulterior motives. From organisations with
mission, some of them have stooped down to being outfits working for commission.
No less a person than Dr Joseph Carnellius Kumarappa, the eminent Gandhian
economist, had once remarked that the western nations had four armies-the
infantry, the navy, the air force and the Church.
Today, half a
century after Independence, if the present generation of the Church leaders in
India want to free themselves from their foreign 'yoke', will they be able to do
so? The Vatican has not concealed its agenda. The World Christian Handbook
(1952), says: "The general purpose of the Commission of Churches on
international affairs is to serve constituents of the parent bodies as a 'source
of stimulus and knowledge' in their approach to international problems, as a
medium of common counsel and action, and as their organ in formulating the
Christian mind on world issues and bringing that mind effectively to bear upon
such issues."
The Ecumenical
Study Conference of East Asia, organised in Lucknow in 1952, stipulated:
"There is need for the Church in East Asia to develop a social doctrine
which will provide right criteria for making political judgements and decisions
in the East Asian situation on the basis of Christian faith."
And what if
this Christian faith is not in conformity with the national viewpoint? The
Vatican will prevail over the churches in India through their working order that
in matters political, as well as spiritual or temporal, the view of the Vatican
is final and binding. In fact, the third assembly of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) held in New Delhi in 1961 even sought to amend the Constitution
of India so as to allow the Vatican 'more elbow-room in Indian politics'.
The question
here is: are the church leaders, who are devout Indians going about their
'normal business' in a harmless manner, be ever out of the control of the
Vatican?
As the state
guest in India, Pope John Paul II (head of the Vatican) declared that his
mission was to "plant the cross in Asia"-thus recalling, in the minds
of non-Christians, the horror of crusades. The recent Vatican declaration "Dominus
lesus" has challenged the very existence of all other non-Catholic
Christian faiths, let alone dismissing and bypassing other great religions of
the world.
According to
the Vatican's document, all non-Catholic
(read Roman Catholic) religions are proclaimed as "defective".
Not because they are any less spiritual or they are not evolved enough, but just
because they do not accept the primacy of the Pope. Therefore, going by what the
Vatican suggests, the Pope, and not Christ is central to Christianity.
In such a
context, they cannot and do not accept the spiritual content of the Hindu
philosophy which has taught the Hindus, Christians and Muslims, and even the
nastiks that truth is one and learned people call it differently. This catholic
world-view has no place in the Vatican. With
what moral right do the 'warriors of Vatican' seek a share in the democratic
process when their leader denounces non-Christians as "gravely
deficient?" The agents of Vatican are now
promoting conversion as democratic freedom, even though the Vatican's view of
religion is authoritarian. The Vatican's recent declaration is clearly
undemocratic-accepting only one authority, that of the Pope-not even Jesus
Christ, the Son of God-and not honouring pluralism so essential for democracy.
Christians in
India are part and parcel of this country, this culture. Some generations back,
they changed their method of worship. Why should they change their names to
represent some Roman or Latin or Greek or some unknown lineage? Can they really
cut their roots off from under their feet? Can
they disown their forefathers? Can they forget Deepavali, Dussehra, Baisakhi and
Pongal?
A national
church would only distance the Christian community from the
politically-motivated anti-national activities of the foreign churches. It would
indeed be a godsend to keep away from the Vatican, yet move closer to the Lord.
Amen.
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